Furniture



March 27, 1934. w. R. McGOWEN 1,952,768

FURNITURE Filed March 4, 1952 IIII nlll Lam nllll INVENTOR seat for greater comfort.

corporated also in either a chair or a settee.

Patented Mar. 27, 1934 Nl'iED STATES FURNITURE illiam R. McGowen, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to The McKay Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 4,

2 Claims.

My invention relates to furniture such as chairs, settees and gliders.

One object of my invention is to provide a chair or the like that has a desired degree of flexibility or springiness and which is nevertheless possessed of a desired strength and stability.

Another object of my invention is to provide a glider that may be operated with a minimum of force and having smoothness of movement.

Some of the forms which my invention may take are shown in the accompanying drawing wherein Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a glider, partially in section; Fig. 2 is an end elevational view thereof, and Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of a chair.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, certain features of my invention are shown as applied to a glider, but it will be understood that they could be in- The glider has a pair of upwardly and forwardly inclined rear legs 4, a pair of front legs 5, and side bars 6, all preferably made of spring metal bars and connected together at their overlapping ends by bolts '7.

The forward ends of the bars 4 are curled to form eyes 8 through which a tubular cross bar 9 extends, the ends of the bar 9 being threaded on the interior surfaces for the reception of threaded studs 10 whose head portions abut against the outer ends of the eyes 8 and serve to hold the inner ends of the eyes firmly against annular beads or shoulders 11 formed on the cross bar 9. This arrangement permits the parts to be readily assembled and disassembled for the purpose of storing or shipping.

The upper ends of the side bars 6 are curled to form eyes 12 through which a tubular cross bar 13 extends, the parts being held in assembled position by studs 14 which correspond to the studs 10.

A canvas strip 15 is secured at its ends to the cross bars 9 and 13 and serves as a combined seat and back. A cushion 16 may be placed on the A tie bar 1'7 extends from each front leg 5 to one of the rear legs 4 to connect the lower ends thereof firmly together and to make for stability of the settee, particularly when a person seated in the settee sways or rocks the same. This swaying or rocking movement results from the flexibility of the legs 4. If the legs 4 were not braced or tied at their lower ends by the bars 17, the structure would be unstable and tend to creep 1932, Serial No. 596,779

if the wheels were omitted and the structure employed as simply a settee.

Yoke-like brackets 18 are secured to the bars 17 of the legs and 5 by bolts. 19 and wheels 20 are journalled therein. These wheels may have tires of fibre, rubber, or other suitable non-metallie material, if desired.

The wheels rest upon track rails 21 that may be in the form of channel irons and the track rails are secured to base bars 22 which may be of any suitable material and are somewhat wider than the track rails, so that the tracks will not sink into soft earth. The flanges of the channels 21 are cut away at their rear ends and the webs of the channels upturned as indicated at 21a to provide stops for limiting rearward movement of the wheels 20, the stops 21a being provided with bumper blocks of rubber or other suitable cushioning material.

A bracket 23 is secured to the front end of each of the base bars 22 by a rivet 24 which may also extend through the channel 21. The brackets 23 serve as stops for limiting forward movement of the glider and are curled at their upper ends to form eyes 25 for the reception of the ends of a tubular cross bar 26 which serves as a foot rest. The bar or foot rail 26 has an annular bead or shoulder 27 formed near each end thereof to serve as an abutting shoulder for the eyes 25, the parts being held firmly together by studs 28 whose heads abut against the outer ends of the eyes 25 and whose shanks are threaded into the bar 26.

The studs 10 have pin-like extensions 30 over which the upper ends of coil springs 31 and 32 are hooked, the lower ends of these springs being hooked in ears 33 and 34 that are secured to the rails.

It will be seen that a person sitting in the settee can cause back and forth rolling movement thereof by slightly pressing his feet against the foot rail 26, the backward movement being against the tension of the springs, and the springs serving to return the glider toward the front'of the track rails. The offsetting of the lower ends of the springs 31 and 32 at their lower ends, in directions longitudinally of the track rails, has the effect of stabilizing the settee and tending to normally maintain it at a given position on the track rails more effectively than would be the case if the springs were parallel with one another. In the latter instance, the springs would not be effective to resist movement of the settee except at points removed a' considerable distance from the points at which the springs have connection with the track rails.

Furthermore, the offset arrangement of springs insures that the settee will come more quickly to a. stable position of rest instead of by more prolonged pendulum-like oscillations of the settee such as would occur if the springs were parallel to one another.

Referring now to Fig. 3, I show a structure which may be used as a chair or settee. In this structure, the legs 4a and 5a correspond to the legs 4 and 5 of Figs. 1 and 2, but the front legs 5a have rearward extensions 17a which are connected to the rails 4a. The extension 17a could, of course, be formed separately from the legs 5a and bolted thereto. The bar-like extensions 17a are bent upwardly at their mid portions so that the settee or chair will be more stable on uneven surfaces. Furthermore, the bar 17a serves as a brace for the legs 4a so that there will be less wobbling and creeping of the structure during flexing movements of the legs 4a.

I claim as my invention:-

1. In combination with a seat structure, of laterally-spaced track rails, a foot rail at the forward ends of the rails, means for supporting the foot rail in elevated position relative to the track rails, anti-friction members for supporting the seat structure on the track rails, and a tensioning device for yieldably maintaining the seat structure at a predetermined position on said track rails.

2. The combination with a seat structure, of track rails, anti-friction supports between the track rails and the seat structure, and a tension spring at each side of the seat structure, connecting the seat structure to a corresponding track rail, the point of connection between each spring and its associated track rail being ofiset relatively to the corresponding connection of the other spring, in a direction longitudinally of said rails, and said connections being disposed at points adjacent to the sides of the seat structure at the normal stationary position thereof.

WILLIAM R. MCGOWEN. 

